I visited Berlin with my significant other and a group friends in October last year. We booked the trip for mid-October for two reasons – one, because my friend found a tattoo artist he really wanted to visit in the city, and two, because this was the week the Festival of Light was happening. As fate would have it, we failed to accomplish either of these things, but here’s what we did get up to:

I found this hotel after a quick search online, and couldn’t be happier with my choice. A super casual – kinda hipster – budget hotel with character. The hotel is located directly opposite Warschaeur Straße Station which is easily accessed from all over the city via S-/U-Bahn. The hotel is clean, has a great bar/lounge area, and I had the BEST sleep in their beds. I can’t vouch for the hotel breakfast, but we had a coffee and a vegan croissant from the bar every day which set us up well for the morning. I’d recommend venturing out across the river and finding one of the many incredible cafés and restaurants in nearby Kreuzberg.

On our first night we headed to the indoor food market at Markthalle Neun, packed full of Berlin’s finest food vendors. It runs from 5pm – 10pm every Thursday and is filled with a great selection of delicious, authentic food with offerings from a huge variety of cultures. I believe the Market has various offerings throughout the week too, but I can whole-heartedly recommend checking out Streetfood Thursday. Foodies – this is heaven.

East Side Gallery Website: www.eastsidegallery-berlin.de
Not as long as I thought it would be but a great little walk nonetheless; there’s some really interesting and beautiful artwork along the length of the wall, and it really gave me an appreciation for the history of it.

A bar located in a former brothel on Lübbener Straße in Kreuzberg. My friend found this place online so we decided to check it out. It’s a little seedy, and there’s tons of furniture glued to the ceiling so everything looks upside-down. But they have a smashing selection of beers and the music was great, so if beer and dingy bars are your thing, I’d definitely pay it a visit. You’re not going to get a lot of information from the following picture but it’s the only one I took, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one.

The Berlin Cathedral is magnificent to look at with a lovely little park out front to sit and watch the world go by. There’s a few additional photos here from our walk around Museum Island and Alexanderplatz.

TIP: Pop into Allegretto on Anna-Louisa-Karsch-Straße and get some ice cream to eat in the Cathedral gardens.